What breeds should I get next year?

[HollowOfWisps]

I’m a sucker for Marans so they get my vote. I love waking up in the morning and cracking open those beautiful chocolate brown eggs for breakfast. It’s the little things in life that make me happy and Maran eggs are one of them.

 

[Folly's place]

The clean legged Marans, called 'cuckoo Marans' on hatchery websites, will produce eggs a shade or two darker than 'normal' brown eggs, not the dark chocolate eggs. For really dark brown eggs, you need the feather legged French Marans, who come in several colors. Ours have been from Cackle, wheaton, black, black copper, and cuckoo colored, and all lay dark chocolate eggs.
Mary

 

[Finnie]

3 sapphire gems
1 barred rock
1 EE
2 barnyard mixes
1 white rock
1 olive egger roo
1 light brahma
1 black sexlink
1 black australorp


Edited to say that they all (excluding the olive egger roo) lay tan eggs so I probably wouldn't want another breed that lays light brown eggs.

Wait. You have a rooster and you are not a hatching addict?! What restraint!

You mentioned that every time you’ve gotten an olive egger, it turned out to be a male. Here’s an idea. Put your Olive Egger rooster with your Barred Rock hen and hatch those eggs. All the males will have a white dot on their head, and all the females will not. Approximately half of those females will lay green eggs, possibly dark green. (And if your Olive Egger rooster happens to be homozygous for the blue egg gene, then ALL of the pullets will lay green eggs.)

The drawback to this idea is that you have to have a plan for what to do with all of the dot headed boys that hatch. Well, and you have to source an incubator.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Wait. You have a rooster and you are not a hatching addict?! What restraint!

You mentioned that every time you’ve gotten an olive egger, it turned out to be a male. Here’s an idea. Put your Olive Egger rooster with your Barred Rock hen and hatch those eggs. All the males will have a white dot on their head, and all the females will not. Approximately half of those females will lay green eggs, possibly dark green. (And if your Olive Egger rooster happens to be homozygous for the blue egg gene, then ALL of the pullets will lay green eggs.)

The drawback to this idea is that you have to have a plan for what to do with all of the dot headed boys that hatch. Well, and you have to source an incubator.

That's a real good idea, but my olive egger roo isn't the biggest fan of my barred rock girl. I am hoping to breed to get olive eggers in the future by breeding a maran male to an Americana or cream legbar female!

 

[talkinboutchickens]

If you choose another breed, do some homework and try to find some info about their characteristics. And how they will get along with the breeds you have now.

Yes, can't forget the researching! The most important step before u get chickens is my belief.

Also good to know if they fit in your climate, how often they usually get broody. How high the roost should be. If these chickens sleep in nest-boxes, etc.

Those are all good things to consider Probably don't want another broody because I now have three hens that decide to be mamas every year now And they are hardcore broodies, too. Despite everything I mentioned previously...II have always wanted a silkie or 2....lol!

I made a list for myself with characteristics and gave every breed I considered a +, - or ~ for every characteristic I put on the list to determine what would be good choices.

Great idea!

 

[talkinboutchickens]

I’m a sucker for Marans so they get my vote. I love waking up in the morning and cracking open those beautiful chocolate brown eggs for breakfast. It’s the little things in life that make me happy and Maran eggs are one of them.

I would definitely love some dark brown eggs again, used to have a mystic maran, Maxine, but she passed It's really hard because all my eggs are tan, so one of my chickens was on meds because she had a prolapse and she has a 3 month egg withdrawal period so I can't eat ANY of my eggs since they are all the same color and there's no telling who's are whose. I do get some blue eggs once in a while from my EE and her daughter, but they have already stopped laying for the year. I am on the fence about either going to my local hatchery or having the chicks shipped to me from Chickens For Backyards but I think I'm going to go with my local hatchery because they have polish and several types of marans, and I want those colored eggs....

 

[talkinboutchickens]

The clean legged Marans, called 'cuckoo Marans' on hatchery websites, will produce eggs a shade or two darker than 'normal' brown eggs, not the dark chocolate eggs. For really dark brown eggs, you need the feather legged French Marans, who come in several colors. Ours have been from Cackle, wheaton, black, black copper, and cuckoo colored, and all lay dark chocolate eggs.
Mary

Good to know!! My local hatchery has French blue marans, French black marans, mystic marans, and splash marans.